


Pre-Prewar Artifacts

by RieWiggles



Series: Stories of the Wastelanders: MacCready Arc [8]
Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, Left 4 Dead, Subtle Left 4 Dead Reference
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Mojave Wasteland, Mojave: Part 4, Romance, light fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 02:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12878109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RieWiggles/pseuds/RieWiggles
Summary: .:.ONESHOT.:.Small direct sequel to Mojave: Part IVQuinn and MacCready find an abandoned home. After exploring it, they learn about the "lost part of history" from 2009-2017, as well as familiarize themselves with a couple of electronic discoveries.





	Pre-Prewar Artifacts

**Author's Note:**

> This is a small direct sequel to Mojave: Part IV

**Author's Note: I’m trying to fix things up to make this shit better, but in the meantime, my damn urge to keep typing up new shit is still in play. I would say I’m still rusty. I’m heckin’ rusty.**

* * *

 

**2296**

* * *

 

Sometimes the world isn’t how it's written in textbooks.

In 2009, the world was a different place. It became a lost gem in history classes. From the eight years, from then to 2017, the only thing that was mentioned was the invention of Wonderglue.

Documents had been destroyed of the events that occurred at that time. Children paid no mind to it. When historians became interested and asked their parents and grandparents, the people refused to talk. Those who were of older generations had been looking forward, hoping to never uncover the memories of what happened at that time.

The great sickness… the Infection, called The Green Flu, had not been uncovered until 2296, when some sharpshooters had uncovered a pyramid facility, and asked the Minutemen for assistance.

With the discovery of many people who have been cryogenically frozen, to a masquerade of trouble with what was left of "Caesar's Legion," the trip to the Mojave Wasteland was a mark that the New California Republic had triumphed from, but allowed the Mintuemen to remain scarred for the time being.

It had been a week since Karlie MacCready had received a harsh blow to the head. Her injury was permanent, according to doctors. It was stitched, required to not be touched unless it was to be cleaned. That job was held to her husband, who took his job seriously.

_I don’t think I could handle losing someone I care about for the second time._

Quinn needed some air that didn’t include sand being blown to the face. She had been confined to her bed, either asleep or in pain. It was the first time she had walked outside over that course of time, taking advantage of the warm air that brushed against her cheeks.

Her curly ginger locks swayed with the wind. A bandage covered most of her forehead. Her close-set hazel eyes were red and weary. Her pigged, curved nose was sore from being scratched on so often. Her full lips opened to release a yawn. Quinn donned a black vest, a Grognak the Barbarian tank top, washed blue jeans that wrapped her legs like second skin, and black dusted boots. Alongside her was her husband, MacCready, who stood only a few inches from her, his almond blue irises darting in different directions, his large, roman nose drying from the weather, and his curved lips making contact with his tongue, to which he desperately used to keep them moist. His sharp jawline curved in all sorts of directions.

The duo made their way inside an abandoned house just nearing the border between Mexico and the United States. California was a rather large state, and the country proved to be even bigger during their trip to Denver just a week prior. That was where Quinn had almost died… the place she received that destined but catastrophic injury. The home was almost caving in. However, the foundation was still strong, keeping the home together. Quinn kept her pistol on safety, quickly scanning the place for any occupants.

“Robbie, why did you bring me here?”

MacCready was in the kitchen area. His voice echoed to her reply.

“Boone said there could be some interesting stuff here for us to take back to the Commonwealth.”

“Oh, the man talked?”

“He talks to me regularly. I’m just cool like that.”

Quinn scoffed. She looked closely around the objects in the living room, before something stuck out. It didn’t look like a normal home that Quinn knew back prewar. It was immensely different.

Quinn spotted a silver box with glass on one side. It confused her. It was a… television. It didn’t look like a TV, not one bit. She clicked the button to turn it on, only nothing happened.

“Robbie, it looks like the breaker’s off.”

He traveled into what looked like a laundry room. He opened the panel, before flicking a switch. It zapped, causing him to flinch and jump back.

“Is it on?”

“Yep!”

Quinn was mesmerized by the box. It didn’t have the typical “Please Stand By” sheet placed in front of it. It instead emitted static.

She clicked the button, only to see something else was different from a typical TV she had seen.

“It has green on it!” She called, extremely floored by the discovery. MacCready joined in to see how interesting the television was.

“It must have color on it!” she replied, in a chuckle.

The mercenary approached his wife. He placed his hands onto her shoulder, before giving a slight rub.

“This is odd. Never seen a TV with color.”

“I haven’t either!”

Quinn began to explore the room for other objects that may have been… pre-prewar. Perhaps the facility was too big of a coincidence. No, 2009-2017 was such a lost time. Hell, even before then was lost. Surely, some things were told, but nothing consisting of colored TV’s.

Quinn pulled out a jeweled plastic case. She was instantly interested in the cover.

“Robbie! It’s your favorite band!”

She handed the case to her husband, before he looked front and back.

“A holotape?” he asked, confused.

He then opened it, only to see something… circular. It was like a mirror, only extremely distorted on the reflection. MacCready pulled the circular object out, examining it.

“What… is this? It doesn’t look like a holotape.”

Quinn got up from the floor, before looking at the case. She checked for any foreign words.

“Wait!”

“Hm?”

“It says on the bottom right: CD-ROM. It’s a CD-ROM.”

“A CD-ROM? Really? That’s what they called Holotapes back then? And it doesn’t look like one… it looks like a plastic flattened donut.”

MacCready placed the CD back into the case, before closing it. They explored the room some more, until he found that something that looked like a console was placed under the TV. He pressed buttons, before it turned on. It played some music.

“Wait, what? What’s this?”

The music appeared to be extremely loud. He messed with the knobs, before he found the right one to turn it down. Quinn felt her head beginning to throb. Curious, he then pressed a few buttons, distorting the song, replaying it, and then skipping to a few others. He then hit a button called “EJECT,” when suddenly, a CD slipped out of it.

“Whoa! This is where the CD-ROM goes in!”

Quinn came up to it, before gasping.

“Coolio!”

“Coolio?”

Quinn pulled out a few CD’s. One said “Coolio” on the cover. He put it into the stereo system, before it began to play its first song.

A particular beat began, where suddenly,

“I been walking through the valley of the shadow of death,” it began before the two began to bob their heads up and down. It was extremely different, nothing they have ever heard before.

“We been spendin’ most of our lives living in a Gangsta’s Paradise,”

The choir in the background sent a shiver through their spine.

“Is this the music before like, Billie Holiday?”

“I don’t know. It’s crisp and clear. The music we get on the radio is kind of brassy and muffled compared to this.”

Quinn read through the back of the CD case, before spotting a date.

“Whoa, Dude!” she gasped.

“This was made in 1995!”

“For real?”

MacCready grabbed the case, looking at it again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he said, surprised.

“This stuff was from the 1990’s!”

“I don’t know, Robbie. Look at when The Midnight Riders came out.”

He checked the date of the CD regarding his favorite band. His heart dropped.

“High Heels & Brushed Steel, The Greatest Hits,” he said, calmly.

He sighed.

“2009.”

Quinn’s heart dropped with his. She felt a lump in her throat.

“That’s when the people at the facility were taken. They even refuse to talk about what happened!”

“What DID happen then?” he asked, rather in a demanding voice.

They checked through everything, listening to Coolio, until another CD switched in the player.

“Heya Tom it’s Bob,” it began. It was acoustic.

The song had a certain undertone to it that was rather subliminal to the search. Regardless, they ignored it, looking through the electronics in the living room.

“Whoa, Robbie,” Quinn then began, as it started a heavier feel with the chorus.

“Hm?” He approached her, before sitting down on the floor.

“What the fuck is this?”

It was a large black box, but no opening in exception to a small creased spot in the horizonal front. It was creased on the top, with a giant green “X.” She looked onto the bottom, before noticing it said “Xbox.”

“Xbox? What the fuck? What’s this supposed to mean?”

“Maybe it’s a mystery specifically for you?” He pulled out a cigarette before lighting it.

“Funny.”

_Got another meeting Tom, maybe we can wrap it up…_

Quinn put the box down, before noticing some wiring was wrapped where it was placed. She pulled it out, before trying to fit it into the box. Some pieces fit, but others didn’t.

“Wait, what the heck? Does this go into the wall?”

She got up, before putting the box on top of the stereo. She then spotted the outlet just behind it.

“Help me move this!” She called. MacCready obliged. Once they pulled the entertainment center from the wall, she plugged what fit.

She clicked the button, before it opened up. It was a small circular tray, although, the extra wiring hanging out was confusing.

“Wait, what the fuck?”

“Let me look.”

MacCready got down on his knees, before discovering that the stereo had wiring of its own. It was connected into a small box that connected to the TV. The box included little slots consisting of different colors, which the wiring seemed to have on the rings. He began to mess with the plugs, before Quinn spotted something interesting coming from the TV. It began to change picture.

“Whoa, Robbie! Go back to what you had the one in!”

He placed the white in its correct slot.

“I hear noises!”

They suddenly freaked when they heard what sounded like being underwater.

“Whoa! Try to fit the other two in!”

He attempted before Quinn saw the picture show up. It was a really different experience. The screen was all sorts of greens, and blacks. On it was a clock.

“Uh, it wants us to put the time.”

“What’s the time?”

Quinn looked down at her watch.

“Uh, it looks like it’s five twenty-two.”

He began to press the big button in the middle, before the thing went in. Nothing happened. He then pressed the small button, before turning it off.

“Whoa!” Quinn yelled.

“Put it back on!”

MacCready pressed the button again.

Suddenly, a screen they didn’t see happened. It was a little green blob, being formed into what said “Microsoft Xbox.”

“Microsoft Xbox? What the hell is that?”

“I guess that’s its name. We should probably say its name and it will say something back?”

The clock screen came back on. They began to say “Microsoft Xbox” over and over with no luck. MacCready got up from his seat, before looking back onto the shelf. He spotted a small control, located in the spot next to where the Xbox used to be. The mercenary blew onto it, letting the dust get off. He noticed a wire at the end.

“It has a plug thing,” he said, before exploring the box, wondering where to put the controller. When he put it into the right slot, he had accidentally hit the thumbstick, which scared Quinn when sounds began to occur. Interested, they checked out the feeling of the object, until they hit the A button to confirm.

“We didn’t put in the time!”

A menu screen popped up, with different areas. One said “memory,” while another said “music.”

“Whoa, so this thing can play music!” Quinn said excitedly.

“It has memories too.” MacCready clicked on “memory,” before seeing that nothing was there.

“It must have had its memories erased.”

“So, is it like a robot or something and it only connects to TV’s?”

“I don’t know.”

MacCready began to mess with it, until Quinn looked back on the shelf to see what was there. She spotted a game, before pulling it off. It had “Xbox” bannered at the top.

“Here, it might only take anything that has “Xbox” on it.

MacCready clicked the big middle button, after realizing what it was. It was a disc tray. He neatly put the CD in with the contents faced up, before waiting for a moment. “It won’t close!” he said, before slightly pushing it. It began to finally close, its lights blinking. Suddenly, the “Xbox screen” they saw before popped up. A light flash happened, before some words popped up on it. He began to explore what was in the CD, as Quinn looked at different things on the shelf.

“Whoa, this is like a film, but, I mean, I can play with it!” he called excitedly.

Quinn continued to check on the CD’s, until she decided that the music was becoming too annoying for her. She pulled the Midnight Rider’s CD out, before inserting it into the stereo. MacCready paused the game, before getting up.

“This is my favorite song!” he began, as his arms began to sway. It began with “One, two, three, four!”

It was a strong start. He began to lip sync with the music. He danced, before grabbing his wife’s hands.

“Every Lady’s Crazy when her Daddy’s not around,” Quinn lip synced back, their mouth movements exaggerated. She lightly danced, as he began to play air guitar. He then grabbed her hands again, moving her with him. They jumped with the music, smiling, moshing with their body’s limits. He then pulled her closer to him, his eyes squinted with laughter, before he kissed her cheek. He then moved down before planting his lips to hers. They wrapped each other closer, as Quinn’s fingers began to trail through his scalp, sending shivers down his spine. He was familiar with her patterns, her tongue in itself. He loved it. At the same time, the ginger kept her tongue dancing with his, as she had explored the rest of his mouth, albeit loving to scratch against the edges of his crooked and spiky teeth.

When they departed, the song changed. Quinn pulled her husband closer again, digging her head into his chest. They fell to the couch that they stood on from all the wild dancing. He rested his head against the arm of the couch, she resting on top of him. They looked on to the television, confused as to what kind of history they had just found.

“Had we checked the crawl space for anymore goods?”

“Nah. I didn’t see a trap door.”

Quinn got up, before searching around for anything off. She then went into the master bedroom, checking the closet. Under the carpet was a large block of wood, to which she pulled up. She then turned on her flashlight, as MacCready  pushed her aside.

“I don’t need you bumping your head,” he warned, before jumping in. He turned on his flashlight. “Why did you send me down here?”

“I felt a bump from under the floor.”

“That might have been me,” he answered.

“No, I can tell when you’ve had fish.”

MacCready slowly and cautiously checked the crawl space. It was wet, but not flooded. It was about five feet deep, which was decent enough for him to explore on his feet, albeit he shouldn’t have stood all the way up. The flashlight slowly checked each end of the crawl space, until he noticed something located at the corner Southeast.

“I found something!” he called, before placing the flashlight in his mouth. His golden revolver went up in the air. His rifle stayed with Quinn, as she looked out the window, hoping nothing had caught them.

MacCready approached what he saw, until he noticed… it was a skeleton. In its hands was a soiled package. He sighed after grabbing it, until he made his way back up to the ledge.

“Pull me up!” he called. Quinn lent her hand out, before using all her strength to pull her husband back to the first floor.

“What’s that?” she asked, as he wiped his wet boots onto the ground. His tank top was also a bit wet from the splash. The mercenary opened the packaged envelope, only to reveal some documents. He sprawled them onto the bed, before pulling out a birth certificate and soon, a letter.

“To whoever finds me,” he read out loud,

“I got bit by some homeless guy. I’ve seen a lot of this on the news. This is it for me. I’ve played too many zombie video games and watched too many movies to see where this is going. If you see my Xbox and all my other video games, just make sure you take care of them. Yeah, I sound crazy, because I am, but what’s to do in a zombie apocalypse other than survive and bang the chicks, am I right?”

Quinn chuckled at the end. They then looked at each other.

“So, in 2009, there was a ‘zombie apocalypse?’”

Quinn laughed.

“So the facility’s documents were saying about a biological mishap, and we just so happen to learn that it’s zombies. I swear the world gets crazier the older we get.”

MacCready scoffed.

“Screw this. I don’t care about a zombie apocalypse, he said to enjoy that Xbox, so I’m freaking enjoying it!”

* * *

 


End file.
